


Unlovable

by morningrain



Series: Growing pains [1]
Category: Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Cole is a wonderful friend, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-15 01:14:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20857790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morningrain/pseuds/morningrain
Summary: Set after 3.02.Cole knows too well the pains of self-discovery and is distressed after Anne's departure from Charlottetown.Gilbert is still mad at Anne, but will listen.





	Unlovable

Cole didn’t know if he was doing the right thing or just making everything worse, but he was just too worried to see the difference. Seven days had passed without a word from his dear friend Anne, after she had left Charlottetown in the worst state he had ever seen her in. She had managed to put on a brave face just before arriving at the station to board with Gilbert on the train home to Avonlea, but he knew too well that the sadness and despair that had engulfed her in the orphanage wasn’t the kind to go away easily. Nothing in the world hurt more than feeling no one could ever love you for being yourself. 

So, here he was. For the second time in a week, he stood at the Charlottetown train station, surrounded by the sounds of hellos and goodbyes, with his eyes peeled for the train arriving from Avonlea. The train arrived on time, as usually, and Cole soon saw the person he was looking for disembarking it. 

‘Gilbert!”, the blond boy called the moment his eyes met the ones of his former classmate.

“Hello, Cole” Gilbert answered, his eyebrows scrunching in confusion. “Anne didn’t- today is just me.”

“I know! I was… wondering if I could talk to you. It wouldn’t take much of your time; I know how busy you are with your studies.”

Despite Gilbert’s popularity in class, he couldn’t remember if he had ever really spoken to Cole before. Just as the boy was starting to come out of his shell, after Gilbert’s trip around the world, he had left school. Still, he wouldn’t leave the boy hanging, especially when he was looking so nervous, fingers tapping messily in his thigh.

“Of course,” Gilbert replied. “Let’s go somewhere more… quiet”. 

And they left the station.

*******

A small café in downtown Charlottetown was their solace from the cold of winter. It was quiet enough for a conversation and, frankly, Gilbert needed some fortification. He hadn’t slept well last night, as every single night after Elijah’s quick departure from the Blythe-LaCroix farm. The hollowness from the loss still filled his stomach. 

“I know we... We don’t really talk much.” Cole started “But I’m really worried about Anne and I had to talk to someone about her. Since you two are friends, I’m hoping you could help.”

The last thing Gilbert wanted to think about was Anne, despite his wishes on this matter never really being fulfilled. He was still cross at her rudeness from last week and, most of all, tired from the whirlpool of emotions he was feeling the past few days. Excitement from his date with Miss Rose. Exasperation from Elijah’s actions. Sympathy for Mary’s struggle with her son. Tiredness from his hectic study schedule. It was too much.

“I’m not sure we really are friends” Gilbert said bitterly. “And she has made very clear she doesn’t _need_ any help from me.”

__

__

“Well, I don’t know which dispute you two are currently in, but this time she’s going to need the support from all of her friends” Cole said ”I know she needed to go through this journey of self-discovery, but I can’t stop thinking about how desolated she looked when I dropped her off at the station and-”.

No matter how angry Gilbert was at Anne, how deeply the feeling of rejection ran on his heart, the care he held for the girl would always override any dark emotion. 

“Anne? Desolated?” Gilbert interrupted, his worry sobering his thoughts. 

“I don’t know how much she told you about what she was doing here in Charlottetown last week” 

“Not that much. Just that she was going on this self-growth journey and I had to chaperone her on the way to meet you. We’re not close the way you two are.” 

Cole resisted the urge to laugh and point out that indeed Gilbert’s relationship with Anne was definitely different from his own. 

“Well, Anne’s journey is about her origins. She wants to know more about her parents, so we went to the asylum - the one where she lived before Green Gables. “

“Oh.” 

"It’s a dreadful, awful place! Horrible to stay for a few minutes, let alone 13 whole years! Everyone there is so mean and broken. Devoid of hope.” 

Cole’s face contorted as he remembered how the rooms of the asylum seemed to have more shadows than his artist’s eyes deemed possible. 

He continued, “I don’t think I quite grasped how amazing Anne was until stepping there. The fact that she endured all that and still managed to be so...vibrant!”

“Anne Shirley-Cuthbert is the most resilient person in the world.” Gilbert couldn’t stop a smile that shined all the way to his eyes. 

“She really is.” Cole also smiled. “But she’s only human.”

“Did she find anything about her parents?”

“No. All the asylum records were supposedly destroyed. And worst part is she left there with the doubt that maybe her parents didn’t die; maybe just abandoned her because she is some sort of unlovable person.”

“That’s-“

“Ridiculous?” Cole suggested

“Yes! How could she ever think that? So many people care about her! The Cuthberts, Diana, you, Bash and Mary, Miss Stacy, …” 

“You.”

Gilbert couldn’t find in himself the courage to agree out loud. 

Cole continued. “I think right now the thing that would help Anne the most is just us being there for her. Showing her we do care about her and we are here for her. You went on your journey before, as I went on mine, and you must remember how… painful and lonely growing can be.”

Gilbert remembered too well, as he still had some growing to do.

“Look, Cole, I really wish I could help Anne. And be there for her. But I’m not her friend, not a kindred spirit. She doesn’t want me to care for her.”

“No, Gilbert, you are mistaken! Of course she-“

Gilbert started to get up from his chair and distance himself from the table.

“I thank you for coming to talk to me, but I really should go where I’m needed.“

“Gilbert!” Cole called, standing up as well.

“I promise to keep an eye on her, Cole. But it will have to be from a distance.”

And with that Gilbert left the café, both boys ending the conversation with hearts heavier than when they had begun. 

******

Seven days had passed without a word from Anne, but Cole wasn’t going to let that period stretch any longer. He left the café straight to the post office.

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a really long while since I last wrote anything, but this whole one-episode-a-week thing is really damaging me, so I had to do something about it. 
> 
> Hope you all enjoy :)


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